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The Edmonton Oilers dressing room is still buzzing with confidence and positive energy after Saturday night’s thrilling comeback victory over the Colorado Avalanche, where five goals in the final 24 minutes turned an unmitigated disaster into the biggest win of the season.

Unfortunately, the Oilers can’t pull a George Costanza and leave on a high note.

The Los Angeles Kings are here. Lose Tuesday night to an L.A. team still trying to establish its footing and a lot of that momentum is gone.

Hockey is funny that way. You have to win more than one in a row sometimes.

So far, however, following one big game with another hasn’t exactly been the strong suit for an Oiler team that’s only won two in a row once. That’s the odd thing about this group, they seem to respond pretty well when the chips are down, but not so much when the chips are up.

“As much as we’ve never gone two games without some sort of points, we need, badly, somewhere here, to put games together,” said head coach Ralph Krueger. “We have to be in a stronger position for the (nine game) road trip.

“That’s the pressure we’re putting on ourselves right now — to string some together. It’s a necessity that has to happen.”

Sam Gagner has watched a lot of Edmonton teams at these crossroads before — clubs that appeared to be heading in the right direction, only to take that wrong, fatal turn.

“It’s a fine line,” he said. “I’ve obviously had a lot of losing seasons, and there were times during those losing seasons where it was going well and you think you’re gaining traction, but if you don’t continue to have the right habits, it falls apart.”

They don’t want to play with one eye on the standings and the other on the schedule, but the math is pretty simple for an 11th-place team that’s three home games away from a 17-day road trip.

“That’s the line you have to walk between urgency and desperation,” said Gagner. “Right now we’re urgent. We’ve kind of been going through some up and down hockey, lately. Now we have to take that next step in our game. We’re cognisant of that fact.

“At the same time, we have a positive attitude in here and we know that if we do the right things, continue to have the right habits and work ethic, things are going to work out.”

With 92 shots in their last two games and a belief that they’d be on a three-game win streak if Dallas didn’t cash in on some very lucky goals, it does look like the Oilers might be on the verge of something here.

“I think it just took some time and eventually we started getting some bounces and it paid off for us,” said Ryan Nugent-Hopkins. “We played so well in all aspects of our game.”

Question is, can they build on it against L.A. rather than having to start all over Thursday against Minnesota.

“There’s a very good passion in there right now,” said Krueger, who loves what his team looks like when it’s fired up and confident, all geeked up on adrenaline and success, like at the end of the Colorado game.

“Let’s bring it into the right channel right off the bat because we know L.A. is going to come in here angry, we know they’re going to come in here heavy and hard.

“They’re going to come in remembering the game and also what happened to them yesterday in Chicago. They’re an experienced, grumpy team, which makes them dangerous.”

The Edmonton Oilers dressing room is still buzzing with confidence and positive energy after Saturday night’s thrilling comeback victory over the Colorado Avalanche, where five goals in the final 24 minutes turned an unmitigated disaster into the biggest win of the season.

Unfortunately, the Oilers can’t pull a George Costanza and leave on a high note.

The Los Angeles Kings are here. Lose Tuesday night to an L.A. team still trying to establish its footing and a lot of that momentum is gone.

Hockey is funny that way. You have to win more than one in a row sometimes.

So far, however, following one big game with another hasn’t exactly been the strong suit for an Oiler team that’s only won two in a row once. That’s the odd thing about this group, they seem to respond pretty well when the chips are down, but not so much when the chips are up.

“As much as we’ve never gone two games without some sort of points, we need, badly, somewhere here, to put games toge